"If history is any guide, the slowdown is unlikely to be linked
to election-related uncertainty. Housing market trends have not
traditionally been impacted around the time of general elections.
Rightly or wrongly, for most home buyers, elections are not
foremost in their minds while buying or selling their home," he
said.

Samuel Tombs, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, also
said constrained affordability was the primary cause of the
slowing market.

He said: "The squeeze on real wages has constrained
affordability, while growing public concern about the economic
outlook has undermined confidence.

"For now, we still think house prices will return to a slowly
rising path, given that surveys suggest supply is tightening
rapidly, employment growth looks set to remain steady at about 1%
year-over-year, and mortgage rates still have scope to fall a
little further."